Side by Side [Stony / Spideypool]

#1

A shrill cry sounded through the dark corridors of the Avenger's tower.
Tony lay in bed, wide awake with his thoughts when he heard it. He sat up, not quite sure if what he heard was his head or reality. He listened for a moment before another yell echoed.
Peter.
Tony stood up quickly and hurried down the hall and flung open Peter's door.
The teenager was thrashing in his bed, soaked in sweat and mumbling and crying.
Tony sat on the bed and hesitated before placing a hand on the boy's arm.
"Hey, kid. Kid." He shook him gently.
Peter's eyes opened suddenly as his breath hitched. He sat up, wiping the tears from his face.
"Mr. Stark, sir, I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean.."
"It's ok, kid. We all get nightmares."
"I woke you up."
"I was awake anyways." Tony pointed at his head. "Always ticking, this thing. You all good? You want a drink? Scotch or something?"
Peter pursed his lips. "I'm only fifteen, s-sir."
"Alright," Tony shrugged and stood up. "You all good though?"
Peter nodded, and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Yes, thank you, Mr. Stark." He watched the man leave his room, and he laid back into his pillow.
Peter sighed, and rubbed his head. It had been a month and a half since the fire had burnt down his apartment and caused him the loss of his beloved Aunt May. The only good thing out of the situation is that Peter hoped May and Ben were together again.
Since Peter had no family to take him in, Tony invited him to stay with the Avengers, after confronting him about being Spider-Man.

--

"You're Peter Parker?"
"Yes, sir. I'm P-Park- Peter Parker."
Tony put his sunglasses on and leaned back into his chair. "Well thank you for coming down to my office, Peter. I'm sorry to hear about your aunt, I can imagine what you're going through."
Peter stiffened a little. "Thank you."
"The reason I called you down here," Tony continued, "and I hope Happy was nice to you, was because I hear you're a bit of a child genius. A mini me, I suppose. Less cool, of course, but still. And also, because, I believe you're the spider..thing, that's been doing odd jobs around Queens."
Peter swallowed and crossed his arms. He could feel a small sweat build on his forehead as he smiled and stuttered. "W-what?"
Tony nodded at Peter. "I bet if we cracked open your backpack we would find your little tights and goggles."
"Not goggles, they-" Peter stopped himself. "Listen, Mr. Stark, I really don't-" he stopped as he watched Tony's face smirk. "Mr. Stark, sir, you can't tell anyone."
"What makes you think I'll tell anyone?"
"Well, sir, you announced Iron Man's identity on the news, and then also told everyone your personal house address, so, I mean.."
Tony took his glasses off and put his arms on his desk. "Listen, kid, I'm offering you a job. And a home. As far as I understand, you're currently a fourteen year old-"
"Fifteen."
"-fifteen, that's what I said, without a family, job, or house. The Avengers could use someone like you. A fresh face. We've got some other new recruits that we sort of picked up with our mission with Ultron last week, which was, y'know, my bad, but we got a few new members from it."
Peter sat with his hands clasped together in his lap. He was trying not to leap with joy in front of his personal hero. Train with the Avengers? Live with the Avengers? Work for Mr. Stark? It was a dream come true, except he wished that it wasn't under these circumstances.
"Mr. Stark, that would be amazing. Thank you so much, I don't even know what to say, I-"
"Save the thanks yous and all that for later." Tony stood up. "Happy will help you bring your stuff to the tower."
"I don't have anything other than what's in my backpack." Peter said softly.
Tony looked sympathetic for a moment, before collecting himself and patting the teenager on the back. "Then Happy will take you shopping. Probably should take a shower first, though."
Peter smelled his shirt and scrunched his nose up a little.
And thus began his life with the Avengers.

--

"Was that Peter making all that noise last night?" Steve sipped his coffee and frowned. "Old pot?"
"Only from yesterday. Reheated." Tony shrugged. "And yeah, the kid was having some bad dreams."
"Hmm," Cap rubbed his chin. "Maybe we should get him some therapy."
"What are we, his parents? No, he'll be fine. He just needs some time."
Steve face hardened. "Tony, I think you of all people ought to be a little more kind to the situation. We all have our own problems, and we deal with it in our own ways, but he's just a kid. What, fifteen, sixteen? He's too young. Clint's got Wanda doing therapy with Sam, maybe Peter can try it, too."
Tony shrugged and downed his coffee. "Whatever. If you want to, that's up to you."
"You're the one who brought him into the tower, Tony. You're responsible for him."
"This is a lot for me, okay?" Tony bit his cheek. "I'm still trying to smooth over what happened with Ultron, so if you and the team can help with the kid, great. I didn't sign up for babysitting when I invited him here. He's supposed to be an Avenger in training, if you will. Not someone who needs their hand held."
Steve shook his head. "Then maybe, Tony, you should have considered that before bringing a kid into the tower."

--

"Head down! Dodge! Back up!"
Peter listened carefully to Natasha's instructions as he jumped around, avoiding holographic bad guys. He suddenly slipped from a wall, and the holograms stopped.
"Dead. Again." Natasha leaned again the doorway, picking at a thread on her track pants.
"Can-can I take a break?" Peter kneeled over, placing his hands on his knees.
"Sure," Nat smirked and walked forward, "after you've fought me."
"Oh-" Peter sighed heavily, and wiped his damp curls from his face. "It's only nine thirty, we have all day to train."
"Working him hard?"
Both turned to see Steve standing in the doorway.
"Yeah, she is." Peter tried to play it cool. "But like, I don't mind, it's f-fine."
"Can I steal you for a moment, Peter?" Steve offered a warm smile and held the door open.
Peter quickly left the training room, then turned to face the captain. He crossed his arms nervously and shrugged. "What's..uh, what's up?"
"Well, I wanted to talk to you." Steve cleared his throat. "I understand that everything that's happened to you has been very difficult. Nobody is judging you for having emotions and natural responses to the trauma you've been through, and I apologize that nobody has really said anything yet."
"Well, Mr. Stark came to my room last night because.." Peter trailed off. "I guess you heard. I hope I didn't wake anyone up."
"Tony failed to mention that he actually went to check on you." Steve tried to hide a small smile. Tony did care after all. "Either way, Peter, I don't want you to feel bad. I want to help you. We want to help you. We've all had our share of PTSD, and Sam did group therapy before he joined the team, and right now he's helping Wanda cope with the loss of her brother. If you're willing, he can meet with you, too. But it's up to you."
Peter looked at his feet. Would it really help? The nightmares were getting worse, nightmares of reliving Ben's death, nightmares of seeing May in the fire-
"I'll do it." Peter stood up straight again. "Thank you, Captain. I-I want to get better. I want to make Mr. Stark proud."
"You already have, even if he doesn't really show it." Steve grinned and put an arm around Peter. "And don't worry, things are just getting started."

Author's Note:

So me and Parksbornislife went to see Homecoming and we literally died. I've got all these Superfamily feels and screw it I'm writing a fic.
So currently in the fic it's after AOU but before CW because we don't need Civil War that's too emotional lmao and yeah cool enjoy this